11th July 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia. Over 8,000 men & boys were brutally massacred while the world watched in silence. It followed three years of over 100,000 people being killed, thousands of women raped, and more than two million people being forced from their homes, simply because of their faith.
Today, we are witnessing the genocide in Gaza in real time, across our TV screens & phones. Once again, the world is watching unbearable suffering, starvation, erasure of whole families, forced displacement & appalling war crimes. The death toll is reaching 58,000 as we speak.
It's not enough to mourn the past if we ignore the present!
The path to genocide begins with words, with the idea that some lives are worth less than others.
I attended the Memorial event held in Bradford today. We heard from many speakers sharing their reflections & deep sorrow on the Bosnian genocide, resolving to learn from past mistakes. At one point the Bishop lead a moment of silence, yet in that silence my ears rang with the anguished screams & cries of a boy who had just lost his mother, from a devastating clip I had seen this morning...I recalled the last words of 6-year-old Hind, surrounded by the bodies of her family, waiting for rescue that never arrived...my closed eyes saw images of 3-year-old Reem & her beloved grandfather, who called her 'soul of my soul'..of Muhammed Bhar, a young man with Down's syndrome & autism who was attacked by an army dog & left to die after his family had been ordered to leave. These are just a tiny fraction of the atrocities happening as we speak.
The main takeaway from the Memorial event in Bradford was "Remember yesterday, act today".
The phrase "never again" gained widespread use after the Holocaust, specifically in the aftermath of World War II. The world repeated this phrase after the Bosnian genocide.
Our group visited both Bosnia & Palestine this year. In Bosnia we read about the horrific atrocities & heard from survivors about their devastating experiences. We visited the Museum of Crimes Against Humanity & Genocide, and after reading the details of the first few exhibits, my eyes could no longer read through my tears...my heart could not take the pain & trauma yet it was important to witness the tragedy & extent that humans went through.
In Palestine, we heard from the locals & saw the devastating effect the ongoing genocide is having on the beautiful Palestinian people. Again, we witnessed the lack of humanity & unbelievable trauma.
So I ask, have we learnt nothing? Why has "Never again" become "Yet again"?
By Saadia Mushtaq
